Category Archives: News

A course about Sibelius and Nielsen will be organized by Arts in Residence in Birmingham on 9–11 April 2019 (Tuesday–Thursday).

It will be based at Jurys Inn, Broad Street, Birmingham, and given by Terry Barfoot. Also included is a concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Michael Seal, featuring Sibelius’s Third and Nielsen’s Fifth Symphonies along with Mahler songs.

Terry Barfoot writes widely on music for Britain’s leading journals, orchestras,
festivals and record companies. He lectures at venues throughout the country, is
publications consultant to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the director of
Arts in Residence.

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Jean and Aino Sibelius’s honeymoon home, the granary at Monola near Lieksa in North Karelia, opened to the public for the first time on Friday 29 June 2018. It will remain open every day (except Mondays) throughout July. Previously it was open by appointment only.

At Monola, Sibelius composed two Runeberg songs (Kyssens hopp and Till Frigga) and worked on the tone poem En saga.

Since 2016 the building has been undergoing renovation in a way that is respectful of its history. The walls and one doorway are exactly as they were in Sibelius’s time. The roof and steps have been replaced, and decaying fabrics inside the barn have been removed, as has overgrown vegetation from outside.

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An apartment is for sale in the historic 17th-century ‘Villa Molfino’ near Rapallo, Italy, where Sibelius rented a room / studio in the spring of 1901, gaining inspiration to compose from the extraordinary nature on the hills of the hinterland of the Gulf of Tigullio. The apartment that will be sold is located immediately under the rooms that were Sibelius’s accommodation.

The owner intends to leave the current furniture, made and chosen with particular taste and great elegance (see attached photos: antique furniture, original floors, painted ceilings etc.).

From Villa Molfino, which is located near the road to the Sanctuary of Montallegro, you may reach Rapallo in five minutes (less then 3 km.) with spectacular views. The apartment has been fully renovated and is 75 square metres in size, consisting of: double bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and pantry, private garden (150 square metres), car port. Price: €249,000, negotiable.

The fourth Sibelius Festival – Golfo del Tigullio e Riviera in Italy will run from 28 September until 14 October 2018. The programme of lectures and concerts is organized under the artistic direction of composer Federico Ermirio. Below is an updated list of dates and times for the events at the festival.

On 24 August 2018 the city of Hämeenlinna will inaugurate the ‘Sibelius Forest’, an approximately 100-hectare nature reserve east of the Lake Aulanko – the area seen from Aulanko observation tower. The forest is located in Hämeenlinna National Park, Finland’s first and the world’s second national urban park, established in January 2001.

The aim of the Sibelius Forest is that it will not significantly limit recreational use of the land (e.g. the Aulanko Hiking Trail) but will take better account of the objectives of the nature conservation area. The area has considerable indirect economic significance, contributing to tourism in Aulanko/Hämeenlinna.

The establishment of the Sibelius Forest Nature Reserve strengthens the position of Hämeenlinna as the ‘city of Sibelius’, protecting the nationally valuable landscape and natural environment, that inspired Sibelius to compose Finlandia.

The young Sibelius enjoyed the forest, often visited Aulanko and was familiar with the views. In the late 19th century, Aulankovuori Hill was a popular place for excursions, with a wooden lookout pavilion at the top of the hill; later, a 33-metre tall granite observation tower was built (Waldemar Aspelin, 1906–07).

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The programme at Sibelius’s home, Ainola, in 2018 includes numerous concerts and garden tours.

Concerts 2018

Lahti Sibelius Festival mini-concerts will be given on Wednesday 13 June and Sunday 17 June at 12 noon and 1 pm by the Wellamo Trio (Lotta Nykäsenoja, violin; Ilkka Uurtimo, cello and Anu Silvasti, piano). On the programme is Sibelius’s Piano Trio in A minor, ‘Hafträsk’, JS 207 (1886).
Entry is included in the Ainola admission ticket price or via the Museum Card.
No prior reservations or seating / no guided tours between 11.30 and 1.30 on concert days.

Music on Sibelius’s instruments – Thursday 30 August at 6 pm
Kaisa Porra-Hänninen, violin; Kari Hänninen, piano
Music by Jean Sibelius, Armas Järnefelt and Joonas Kokkonen
These artists return to Ainola after a concert in December 2016 also featuring Sibelius’s own instruments. Kaisa Porra-Hänninen has played in the Finnish National Opera Orchestra for most of her career and has appeared frequently with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Lahti Symphony orchestra. Kari Hänninen has worked as a choir répétiteur at the Finnish National Opera, as an orchestral pianist and as an accompanist at the Sibelius Academy.Tickets – click here

‘Do you hear how nature smells?’ – Thursday 20 September at 6 pm
Jussi Makkonen, cello; Nazig Azezian, piano
This concert, on the 61st anniversary of Sibelius’s death, includes some of Sibelius’s most popular pieces in arrangements for cello and piano (The Spruce; Valse triste; Finlandia). In 2017 Makkonen and Azezian received a platinum disc for their recording accompanying the children’s book Soiva metsä (Melody Forest). That disc was recorded at Ainola in 2014 and are well-known for championing Sibelius’s music internationally, and especially for their performances for children and young people’Hear them perform Finlandia – click hereTickets – click here

‘Well-known and Enigmatic’– Saturday 8 December at 5 pm
Folke Gräsbeck, piano; Petteri Iivonen, violin, with Prof. Timo Virtanen
Folke Gräsbeck has performed more than 400 works by Sibelius and recorded them extensively. Petteri Iivonen, winner of the Kuopio Violin Competition and a prizewinner at the Sibelius Violin Competition in 2010, performs regularly as a soloist with prestigious international orchestras. Timo Virtanen is editor-in-chief of the Jean Sibelius Works critical edition.
Tickets go on sale in June.

Garden Tours

During the summer of 2018 there will be guided tours of the garden that Aino Sibelius created at Ainola. The tours will focus on the planning of the garden, the choice of decorative and functional plants, the history of the garden and Aino Sibelius’s significance for Finnish gardening.

The construction of Ainola’s garden began in 1904 when the family moved in. The garden’s essential nature has been well preserved, and reveals much both about the importance of growing plants for food and about the way the beauty of nature provided artistic inspiration for the family. For Sibelius, the grounds and garden at Ainola were an important source of inspiration, as is shown for example in the numerous piano pieces that are named after trees and flowers.

Guided tours in Finnish on Thursdays at 3 pm (until 13 September 2018)
Guided tours in English on Thursdays in August at 12 noon
Entry is included in the Ainola admission ticket price or via the Museum Card
Group bookings available (€30 per group plus admission ticket price) – information: info@ainola.fi
(N.B. There will be no tours on 21 June, 23 August, 20 September and 27 September)

Other news

The roots of the spruce hedge adjoining the car park at Ainola have been affected by excavations, and the hedge will be renewed in the spring of 2018. For the sake of consistency, the hedge is also being also extended on the other side of the gate. At the same time, the gate will be replaced because the position of the hedge is changing. While the new hedge is growing, a metal fence is being incorporated into it.

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One of Sibelius’s rarest works, the Melodrama from Svartsjukans nätter (Nights of Jealousy) will be performed in Porvoo, Finland, in June as part of Avanti!’s Summer Sounds music festival.

This large-scale melodrama for soprano, piano trio and recitation, some 15 minutes long, was composed in 1893 to mark the birthday of the poet J.L. Runeberg, whose words it sets. The poem tells of a dream in which the poet is blissfully reunited with a former lover, but from which he wakes abruptly just when his happi­ness seems complete. Sibelius re-used some of its thematic material in the well-known fifth and sixth Impromptus for piano.

The performers include some of Finland’s most distinguished and high-profile musicians, among them Anu Komsi and Sakari Oramo.

The seventeenth ‘Sibelius i Korpo’ festival in the Turku archipelago will take place on 20–22 July 2018. This year’s theme is ‘Oskar Merikanto 150’, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Oscar Merikanto on 5 August 1868. The programmes thus feature works by Sibelius and Merikanto. All concerts take place at Korpo gård, where Sibelius, his family and friends made music in the summer of 1887. The festival is organized by Petri Kirkkomäki and its artistic director is Folke Gräsbeck.

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Congratulations to John Davis, president of Sibelius One, who has just celebrated 60 years’ membership of the Torbay Recorded Music Society at a gala dinner. He has been a committee member for 58 of those years, and is now its president.

Sibelius One’s treasurer Janet Abbotts was guest speaker at the gala. A special card was presented to John Davis on behalf of Sibelius One, and suitable music was played over the course of the evening, including the ‘Korpo’ Trio, Humoresqes for violin and orchestra, Violin Concerto, Finlandia and the Nocturne from the King Christian II Suite. There was a very large cake in blue and white, Finland’s colours, and 18 bottles of wine were presented, all wrapped up in the same colours.

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